Spelling-Changing Spanish Verbs and Pronunciation

As a Spanish verb is conjugated, changes in its spelling may alter the way the word is pronounced, so additional spelling changes are necessary to ensure that the resulting pronunciation of the word matches the pronunciation of the original. Basically, Spanish is a phonetic language, so what you see is what you get (or, more precisely, what you see is what you say or hear). The following eight groups give these spelling changes some sense of logic:

Group 1: Soft gchanges to jin front of an -o or an -a ending.

Group 2: Hard gu changes to g in front of an -o or an -a ending.

Group 3: Hard qu changes to cin front of an -o or an -a ending.

Group 4: The c in -cer or -cir verbs, when preceded by a consonant, changes to a z in front of an -o or an -a ending.

Group 5: The c in -cer or -cir verbs, when preceded by a vowel, changes to zcin front of an -o or an -a ending. (This spelling-change rule is not dictated by pronunciation reasons, but it still falls under the category of a spelling change rule.)

Group 6: Hard c changes to qu in front of an -e ending.

Group 7: The letter zchanges tocin front of an -e ending.

Group 8: Hard g changes to gu in front of an -e ending.

Groups 1 through 5 affect the present tense; here some examples of each group.

Group 1 (soft g to j): escojer (to choose)

yo

escojo

tú

escoges

él/ella/ello/uno

escoge

usted

escoge

nosotros

escogemos

vosotros

escogéis

ellos/ellas

escogen

ustedes

escogen

Another verb in this group is proteger (to protect).

Group 2 (hard gu to g): distinguir(to
distinguish)

yo

distingo

tú

distingues

él/ella/ello/uno

distingue

usted

distingue

nosotros

distinguimos

vosotros

distinguís

ellos/ellas

distinguen

ustedes

distinguen

Two other verbs in this group are conseguir (to attain) and seguir (to follow).